200 Memories Central

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Welcome back to our celebration of 200 moments, memories, coaches and student-athletes from the history of Lycoming College athletics. In this 17th series of moments, we take a look at a national champion, a conference championship almost 100 years in the making and one of the most tragic tales in the school’s 200 years.
 
With no more ado, here are moments 161-170 in our series of 200:
 
161. Layne Haverstock, 2000-03 – When Tim McMahon took over the volleyball program in 2001, he did so with a team that centered around a 6-0 middle hitter from Hesston, Pa. In her first season with the program in 2000, Layne Haverstock led the Freedom Conference in kills per game with 3.62 per game. She didn’t relinquish the league lead the rest of her career and also led the conference in blocks two times, beginning with averaging a national-leading 2.36 blocks per set as a sophomore in 2001, McMahon’s first year at the helm. In just 19 matches, she posted 170 blocks, helping pace the Warriors to a nation-leading 5.53 per set as a team. She was named the Freedom Conference’s Most Valuable Player after the season and she added first-team all-conference honors in each of her last two years, as well. As a senior, she notched a career-high 584 kills to go with 99 blocks while helping the team to a 6-0 conference record. The team reached the conference finals in each of her last two years in the program and Haverstock still holds the school’s all-time career records in kills per set (4.18) and points per set (5.70), ranking in the top five in school history in 12 categories. She was inducted into the Lycoming College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009.
 
162. 94 years in the making, 2002 – After finishing the regular-season with a 17-7 record and in a tie for first in the Freedom Conference with King’s, the Warriors came back from 11 down in the first half to edge out the defending conference champions, Scranton, 70-67, led by the play of forward Matt Stackhouse, who posted 26 points and 12 rebounds in the conference semifinals. On Feb. 23, 2002, the Lycoming men’s basketball team travelled to King’s to compete in the fifth conference championship game in the program’s history, looking for their first conference title. Lycoming used a 14-0 run in the first half to build a 19-point halftime lead and King’s never got closer than four points the rest of the way and when King’s did close within four, Jason Black and Chris Napier, both seniors, hit jumpers to get the lead back to eight points. Black notched 27 points in the championship tilt to lead all scorers. In the NCAA Tournament, Lycoming beat Gettysburg in the first round before dropping a second round game to Randolph-Macon. Freedom Conference Player of the Year Tom Wesner led the Warriors during the season, averaging 17.4 points and 95 3-pointers and Napier, who averaged 15.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Both players were named first-team all-conference while Stackhouse earned second-team accolades. Head coach Terry Conrad, who left the Warriors for Bloomsburg University in 2003, earned the conference’s coach of the year award.
 
163. Off the blocks, 2001-02 – When Jerry Hammaker took over the reins of the swimming program in 2001-02 after serving as an assistant coach the year before for a 6-10 women’s team, he gave the team a theme to concentrate on: “Building a new tradition of excellence.” The team took the mantra to heart, posting the only undefeated season in the history of the swimming program. The Warriors dominated their opposition all year long, from a 147-55 season-opening win at Misericordia to a 142-44 win at King’s in the dual meet finale. Along the way, only one team came within 25 points of it, as the Warriors won the 400-yard freestyle relay behind freshman Erin Horsley, sophomore Jess Amadore, freshman Erin Patrick and junior Andrea Rapach to squeeze out a 97-95 win over Scranton. At the MAC Championships, the Warriors set six new school records and posted a second place finish thanks to a 400-yard freestyle relay that set a school record with a time of 3:45.28. Amadore won the 50-yard freestyle title at the conference meet and 14 others earned all-conference honors in individual events while all six relay teams earned all-conference accolades. The tradition that Hammaker talked about creating was well-established by the end of the year, as the program has run off 11 straight winning seasons since.
 
164. Meredith Moerschbacher, 1999-02 – From Montoursville, Pa., the Moerschbacher family was good to Lycoming tennis in the early 21^st century. While Scott Moerschbacher was named the Freedom Conference Rookie of the Year in 2000, his little sister, Meredith, was a key member of some of the best teams in school history, posting a combined record of 81-10 on the courts. A two-time First Team All-Freedom Conference selection, Moerschbacher went 44-6 in singles play and 37-4 in doubles. She played all four years at No. 2 singles and three years at No. 1 doubles, while playing with fellow athletic hall of famer Cricket Temple. She notched a 12-1 record in singles and a 10-1 mark in doubles as a sophomore before posting an 11-1 singles mark in 2002 and an unblemished 9-0 mark in doubles play. Moerschbacher was also a star in the classroom, earning membership into the Beta Beta Beta biology honor society. After Lycoming, she went to the University of Connecticut to earn an advanced degree in cellular biology and she is currently a scientific recruiting manager at Kelly Services. She was inducted into the Lycoming College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011.
 
165. Ricky Lannetti, 2003 – Nine years after the sudden death of Ricky Lannetti, his story still reverberates around the sporting world. A strapping 5-9, 189-pound Philadelphia native, Lanetti was one of the most versatile players for the Warriors in the early part of the century. He began his career as a kickoff returner and moved into the punt return role as a sophomore in 2001, earning Second Team All-MAC honors as a return specialist after returning two punts for a touchdown. As a junior, he turned into the Warriors’ top receiver after not catching a pass in his first two years with the team. He was even better as a senior, averaging a school-record 7.0 catches per game, posting 955 yards, plus as the team’s top punt and kick returner, he broke the school’s record for all-purpose yards in a season (1,644). He broke the school-record for most receptions in a game with 16 against Delaware Valley and also wrapped up his career holding all-time records in kick return yards (987), kick returns 945) and punt return touchdowns (2). He also helped Lycoming to an 8-1 regular season and its first MAC title since 1999, helping the team reach the NCAA Division III Championships while earning D3Football.com All-American honors and First Team All-MAC accolades as a receiver. In the first round against East Texas Baptist, he made five catches for 40 yards in Lycoming’ 13-7 overtime victory. However, the week before the NCAA quarterfinals, he fell ill. He checked into the hospital on Saturday morning and just 12 hours later, he died. The autopsy report released on Monday, Dec. 8, listed the cause as a bloodstream infection caused by Staphyloccus aureus (MRSA), better known as a staph infection. His death has been a rallying cry in the sports world for awareness in staph infection detection and his story has been featured in several national media outlets, including most recently ESPN: The Magazine in 2010.
 
166. Twin Towers, 2003-04 – In his first season as head coach, Don Friday had a team with a distinct height advantage. The men’s basketball team’s frontcourt featured a pair of senior center captains in 6-8 Matt Stackhouse from Hughesville, Pa. and 6-8 L.J. Huggler from Kersey, Pa. The pair had developed throughout their careers in the Blue and Gold, going from averaging a combined 4.8 points and 3.4 rebounds during their freshman years in 2000-01. Stackhouse broke through as a sophomore, averaging 13.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per game while starting on the 2002 Freedom Conference Championship team. It took Huggler one more year to break into the lineup, doing so in 2002-03 to the tune of 12.7 points and 5.5 rebounds. As seniors, they combined with 6-5 sophomore Jonathan Pribble to become one of the most formidable frontcourts in the nation. All three averaged in double figures and earned all-conference honors, with Stackhouse leading the way by averaging a double-double at 16.8 points and 10.6 rebounds, despite missing 10 games due to an injury. Huggler started all 29 games, averaging 14.1 points and 5.4 rebounds and Pribble added 20.0 points and 6.3 rebounds. Complementing Huggler while Stackhouse was out with an injury, 6-9 Jeremiah Edison posted 7.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Together, the four blocked 74 shots and posted 26.7 rebounds per game, with Stackhouse and Huggler providing the impetus for the tough-minded Warriors to finish second in the nation with a +11.0 rebounding margin and win the Freedom Conference title for the second time in three years. Stackhouse racked up his career with a school-record 142 blocked shots and he is also in the top 10 in five other all-time rankings. Huggler, meanwhile, is in the top 10 in three categories, including a solid .608 career field goal percentage.
 
167. Jessica Feerrar, 2000-03 – A prototypical program player, second baseman Jessica Feerrar was a four-year letterwinner with the softball team, improving along the way. She burst into the starting lineup as a freshman, hitting .304 with a school-record nine doubles, a mark that stood for 10 seasons. However, as a sophomore, she slumped, hitting just .219 and the team slumped, too, finishing 8-14. The Warriors and Feerrar rebounded in 2002, as she hit .269 and the Warriors qualified for the Freedom Conference playoffs for the first time since the MAC reorganized into two separate championships for the Freedom and Commonwealth conferences. As a senior, the Lock Haven, Pa., native left her true mark, though, hitting a career-best .307 with 14 runs, five doubles, four triples and her seventh career homer, tying Jen Shuler for the school record for home runs, a mark that stood for 12 years. She was named to the First Team All-Freedom Conference and then went on to earn some even more prestigious honors, becoming the sixth woman in the school’s history to earn First Team CoSIDA Academic All-District honors and then joining Jeanine Evans as the only Academic All-Americans in the softball program’s history, earning a slot on the second team. Feerar is still listed in the top five in nine career categories and four single-season ones.
 
168. Lyndy LeVan, 1999-03 – A 5-11 forward from across the Market Street Bridge, much like the men’s basketball team’s all-time leading scorer, Rich Henninger, Lyndy LeVan left a similar legacy during her four-year career. LeVan made an immediate impact, leading the team to a 17-9 record while averaging 16.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. In the process, the South Williamsport product earned the first of three straight First Team All-Freedom League honors. As a sophomore, she averaged 18.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game before averaging 16.0 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. She crossed the 1,000-point mark during the season, becoming the first player in school history to do so as a junior. Despite battling an injury as a senior, she still averaged 13.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per game en route to second-team all-conference honors, becoming the only player in school history to earn four all-conference honors. She also set the school’s all-time career scoring mark, posting 15 points in a victory over Wilkes University to surpass Erica Weaver’s previous high of 1,490 career points set from 1994-98. She finished her career first in career points (1,543) and field goals made (636), while also sitting in the top five in school history in 10 categories, including being second with 756 rebounds. She is also in the top five in single-season history in nine categories. LeVan, who was inducted into the Lycoming College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008, currently teaches sixth-grade math and science at Susquenita Middle School.
 
169. Seneca Reilly, 2001-04 – For most volleyball teams, the engine of the team comes from the setter. It’s the position that paces the offense and is the link between the back row and the hitters. So when Tim McMahon took over the volleyball program in 2001, it was no surprise that one of the first things he did was go out and find a starting setter. From Athens, Pa., Seneca Reilly immediately went about reestablishing the Warriors in the Freedom Conference. After the team finished in fifth in 2001 while Reilly posted a school-record 90 service aces and earned her first of three all-conference accolades, she led the team to three straight conference championship games. She posted her first of three straight 1,000-assist seasons as a sophomore. As a junior, she was even better, leading the Warriors to a 24-11 record, their first 20-win season since 1999, as she set up 1,328 kills, a school-record. As a senior, even though the team finished 16-20 overall, it went 5-1 in the Freedom Conference and secured a bid to the championship. She willed the team to the league title, posting 33 assists in a sweep of Wilkes in the semifinals and then posting 58 helpers in the five-set finale against FDU-Florham, earning the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award and leading the Warriors back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998. Reilly still holds the school records for assists (4,238) and service aces (259) in a career and she is ranked in the top five in eight times in single-season categories.
 
170. 2004 Freedom Conference Champions – After suffering through their first losing season in 11 seasons, the 2004 Lycoming volleyball team made a special run to return to its first NCAA Tournament in six years. The team played a brutal slate of tournaments, heading to Gettysburg, Division II Clarion, Haverford, Division II Johnstown and Carnegie Mellon, posting a 3-13 record in those tournaments. However, the brutal tournament slate led to another great Freedom Conference season. After running the table with a 6-0 record in the Freedom Conference in 2003 before falling to Scranton in the finals, the Warriors went 5-1 and gained the top-seed in the conference playoffs again after a 3-1 upset of the defending champions Scranton in the regular-season conference finale. With home floor advantage on their side, the Warriors posted a three-set win over Wilkes in the conference semifinals before an impressive comeback to take a 3-2 win from FDU-Florham in the conference championship. Down 2-1, the Warriors posted a 31-29 win in the fourth and wrapped up the win with a 15-12 victory in the fifth set. Down 29-27 in the fourth set, the Warriors rolled off four straight points to win the set. Lindsey Artz led the Warriors with 24 kills and three blocks and Kelli Watson added 22 kills and 19 digs while tournament MVP Seneca Reilly posted 58 assists. Although the Warriors fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Freedom Conference Champions left their mark, with Reilly and Watson earning first-team all-conference honors and Artz earning second team honors.          
 
We hope you enjoyed our 17th look at 200 Memories. Stay tuned on Friday, April 13, as moments 171-180 will be released, with moments capturing the period from 2004-07, as we take a look at the best golfing duo in school history, a women’s lacrosse scoring machine and one of the best pitchers in the NCAA Division III’s softball history.
 
As always, if you feel we missed an event or two that can be deemed a memorable moment or a memorable student-athlete, please share them. Tell us why they are special and any information you may have about that moment or person by contacting Sports Information Director Joe Guistina at guistina@lycoming.edu. Special addendums with your feedback will be released following the conclusion of the list in 2012.